aikigreg

And some of us will be your age, or younger. Not all of us are fat beard toting freds! Some of us (like myself) are quite studly....

Trsnrtr

And modest, too!!!

BlazingPedals

Greg is like me: the only fault I have to prevent me from being absolutely perfect is that I'm too humble! lol

Echo Gypsy

I'm not even talking about waving. At least be polite. 3 stories (out of a few).
This one time I passed a guy on the trail, about 10 minutes later he comes flying by me so close his elbow touched my arm.
Another time I almost hit a guy because he was on the wrong side of the trail coming around a blind corner. Being the excellent balanced rider that I am I SWERVED, hit my brakes and slid to the side off the trail. NOT EVEN A THANKS.
Another time it had been raining the trail was pretty slick in some spots (especially with an abundance of leaves). I slowed down into a curve and still had some slippage. Just around the bend a guy was coming towards me fast I said "careful it's slippery around the curve" and he gave me the nastiest look.
A few more things happened and I quit being nice to the Spandex People. I have a friend who IS one of the Spandex People and he even admits they are a**es.

Echo Gypsy

hmmmmm.....So you don't wear shiny spandex?

megaman

I should figure out how to do a poll. Just to see how many bent riders wear spandex. I don't think it's very many. At least for the ones I come across around here. I do have one jersey(a BF 50+ and it's loose) but other than trying to stay warm I don't wear spandex otherwise.

gnome

Even though I'm young(ish) I'm a slightly fat, beard toting, recumbent riding fred. I do wear lycra though: cycling jerseys, arm warmers and tights (under regular shorts) on longer rides. I wear lycra just for the functionality of it. I'll wave to any bent rider I see and most cyclists on recreational rides. I'm concentrating on what the silly drivers are going to do, and general traffic awareness when commuting so I don't tend to wave then.

Oh, I'll wave and smile at any cute chick on a bike, of any type.

BlazingPedals

Are all your stories on MUPs? MUPpets aren't exactly complete cyclists, in the sense that riding on trails ******* their cycling skills. You can't draw conclusions that apply to other cyclists if you just base your observations on MUPpets.

Trsnrtr

According to my wife and my riding friends, humility is my greatest asset.

Trsnrtr

I do. I rode and raced uprights for 21 years before going bent and old habits die hard. The only difference is that I no longer have a chamois in my shorts. I even wear lycra on my trike.

Echo Gypsy

I don't even know what a MUP is. All I know is that these guys are the die hard, morning- afternoon riders (while everyone else is working), colorful spandex wearing (with advertisements all over), I see them every day riders.
I think they must be pissed off because I don't wear the shiny spandex and they wonder why I'm on the trail the same time they are, because clearly I don't compete.
Or maybe they have adrenaline-cortisol-electrolyte-caffeine hard ons and I feel like being an a**h**e.

*starting to wonder if Blaze here is one of THEM*
Please tell me it isn't so!

BlazingPedals

Another vote for Lycra. Street clothes may be OK for short jaunts or putsying around on a trail; but lycra just makes more sense once you reach a certain performance level. Regular shorts are nothing more than parachutes and bee scoops, and when the wind blows the legs open, they're more revealing than the lycra. Once you're wearing the lycra shorts, the jersey logically follows because you still need pockets when you get off the bike. I only use the outer pockets, for reasons that should be obvious to recumbenteurs.

Echo Gypsy

Ah....well don't confuse Lycra with Spandex. Spandex is shiny and lycra is matte.
Not even Vin Diesel or Jessica Alba would look good in shiny spandex! I'm not talking about a bikini either ....that doesn't count.

Echo Gypsy

I wear lycra/poly/nylon, relaxed fit, flat seam cargo capris, running skorts ( yeah yeah yeah, guys won't wear them), straight leg running pants, t-shirts and tank tops etc. that go from bike to work (or society in general) without changing.
Now I don't have a problem with the training clothes IF they really are training. But more often then not I see fat guys in the shiny Spandex, I mean they DO have special cycling shorts that are loose and have the fitted spandex on the inside. They DO have loose fitted jerseys!

Echo Gypsy

O! Blaze, no wonder you hate me you're from MI and I mentioned OH!
For the record, I don't call COLS home and I currently don't live there.

BlazingPedals

Echo, the behavior you're describing is immature kid-behavior. They don't do that sh..tuff out on the roads where I ride because if they did, they'd be flattened in short order. Or we'd ride off and leave 'em for road kill. Another reason I say 'kid' is because that's usually who's doing it - 25y.o.s or less wannabees who think that bombing down the MUP (Multi-User Path) at 20 mph shows how fast they are. Most paths/trails have speed limits in the 10-15 mph range.

As for your conjectures about me, I really don't like people making unflattering assumptions about me because of my clothes or my speed, or whether or not I wave to strangers. I'm more performance-oriented than most recumbent riders on this list, but that doesn't automatically make me a Bad Person(tm). You won't see me acting poorly on a trail because I avoid trails. Riders like me don't belong there.

Have you considered the possibility that a cute young woman waving to older guys might be taken as an invitation?

yakmurph

This is a fun thread to read!
...so I thought I'd contribute.

Earlier this week, while approaching the intersection of my street and the official start of my ride,
I saw two bicyclists speed by.
They were obviously fit and even better, headed in the direction I'd planned on going!
Oh boy: my favorite bike game.

I gave chase.

One bicyclist looked back every so often (neither one used a mirror)
-and they both picked up the pace.
Good!
The chase was truly on.

Two miles later, I was in their draft.
They were fit! Averaging 20 MPH, which is pretty fast for that stretch of road,
for a DF bike.

Soon enough, we came to a gravity-cavity. A nice steep place for me to pass.
The DF riders quit pedaling and coasted;
I shifted to my tallest gear (52t - 11t) and passed them doing 30+ MPH.
One of them said something... but it's sense was lost in the slipstream.

A mile later, the two DF riders re-passed me.
Surprise!
Mother and daughter, riding together... The daughter, the rider with the limber neck,
said, "nice bike!"

We all had fun that day.

No one waved at anyone else. I think we were all working too hard, at the time.

djwid

Same here.

Echo Gypsy

I find it odd that you are stuck on The Wave. I never once said I wave. I usually smile or nod to the other non Spandex riders. I ride mostly on the road considering that I use my bicycle as my only form of transportation. However the, Olentangy trail is a not only pretty it is lightly used during the day and it happens to be the fastest (and safest) way to get north of the city. Typically, only commuters use the road (sometimes the trail) and the spandex riders use the trail. I rarely see them on the road seeing as how Ohio's roads are rough and have a number of potholes, those carbon fiber bikes wouldn't last on the roads.
Of course down here in MS, I rarely see any bicycles at all. But given the rude drivers, no trails anywhere and even worse roads then Ohio, that doesn't surprise me!
Now as for you, I don't know you, I've never met you and I never said "Blaze is an a** because he wears Spandex". I merely gave the state of affairs in one city far removed from yours.
So why are you so defensive?

BlazingPedals

That's how I interpreted this:

And I know that wasn't your main complaint. You even said so. But when you started theorizing why everyone hates you, ya lost me.

BTW, my oldest is currently working on his PHD at OSU.

Echo Gypsy

Well, on a motorcycle waving is standard since we are generally either going too fast, oncoming, or wearing a full face helmet it would be impossible to see a smile or a nod.
It isn't really a "wave" per se as it more of an acknowledgment, it's a very slight movement one that only motorcyclists really notice. What's interesting is that I've found motorcyclists will even acknowledge road cyclists as well. At least they have me.
Hmmmmm... I wonder of your son has ridden on the trail. It goes right through the west side of campus near the Lincoln towers.

Now that I think of it, I've never seen any recumbents on that trail.

Echo Gypsy

Oh, I'm curious, why would the Olentangy trail ****** training?

bobkat

I love passing uprights too. Especially when they come up to me at the next rest stop, look at my bike and tell me "I'm going to have to look into one of those things when I get older!"

aikigreg

Well, I wear lycra, but it ain't shiny. I can usually be found in many a race cut jersey and spandex, or often in a skinsuit as well at the local TT tearing it up. Why, did you want a picture of my in something like gold lamee? Send me some and no problem - I've worked hard to get this butt - I don't mind showing it off a little...

BlazingPedals

I think that line, or similar ones, are just too funny. I always respond back, "why wait until they're too old to enjoy it?" They must realize they're not mature enough to endure their buddies laughing at them for having an old person's bike.